THE INSIDE TRACK | NEWSWIRE

This Time, Hakkinen Has the Best Timing and Wins

Mika Hakkinen took the lead during a slow pit stop by pole-sitter Michael Schumacher, then led a McLaren sweep of the top two spots Sunday in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

It was the first victory this season for the defending Formula One champion, who also won the Spanish Grand Prix last year. It was the second consecutive McLaren victory after wins in the first three races of the season by Schumacher and Ferrari.

Hakkinen finished 16.066 seconds ahead of David Coulthard, who raced five days after being slightly injured in a private plane crash in France that killed the pilot and co-pilot.

Schumacher, who finished fifth, had the lead until a 17.5-second pit stop after 41 of the 65 laps. Slow refueling of his car gave the advantage to Hakkinen, who was in at the same time but out in only 6.5 seconds.

Hakkinen, who averaged 121.990 mph, won for the 15th time but first since last fall in Japan. He pulled within 14 points of Schumacher. Schumacher has 36 points to 22 for Hakkinen and 20 for Coulthard.

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John Force got the 84th victory of his NHRA career, winning the Funny Car title in the Advance Auto Parts Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. Force covered the quarter-mile in 4.929 seconds at 289.14 mph to defeat Ron Capps.

Gary Scelzi won the Top Fuel division. His elapsed time was 4.629 at 310.70 mph. He defeated points leader Tony Schumacher. Jeg Coughlin won for the sixth time this season in Pro Stock with a run of 6.957 at 198.12 mph.

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Supercross champion Jeremy McGrath denied David Vuillemin a $500,000 bonus by winning the final event of the AMA Supercross season Saturday night at Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium. Vuillemin, who started fifth, could only manage to finish fourth as Mike LaRocco and early leader Kevin Windham finished ahead him.

A crowd of 38,856 and a pay-per-view TV audience watched McGrath take his 10th win in 16 events. Travis Patrana won the 125cc support race.

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Kevin Vernon, filling in for Jimmy Insolo, who was ill, won for the first time outside of his hometown of Bakersfield when he won the 75-lap Food 4 Less NASCAR Super Late Model event at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night.

Two racing classes made their debut. Ron Peterson of San Bernardino won the 50-lap Mechanix Wear speed truck race and Richard Riley of Lancaster won the 20-lap NASCAR Mini-Stockars event.